Isaac

  “Have you lost your mind?”

  I don’t answer. I just focus on fitting the last set of screwdrivers into my backpack—after the mini soldering iron, the cables, the programmable boards.

  Alexian crowds me from behind.

  “Do you realize the risks?”

  I head down to the kitchen with a second bag. She’s on my heels. Jameth follows, silent.

  Five thermoses of water, insect-flour bars, protein pills. All into the second bag.

  “And if you get yourself killed?”

  I snort through my nose. “You’re going to make me forget something.”

  “Good,” she fires back. “Then you’ll come back and think it through.”

  I pretend I didn’t hear her. Behind Alexian, Jameth looks like he wants to laugh, but he holds it in—smart, if he wants to stay alive.

  I jog back up to my room.

  I open the closet. I lift the base panel beneath the hanging suits and pull it free, revealing a hidden compartment.

  Jameth—silent until now—slides in so close he’s practically under my arm. Alexian crosses her arms, fingers drumming, and comes at me again.

  “So?”

  I pull out ten antennas. Five in each hand. About six inches long, sharpened on one side, wider at the other—where a small clear housing protects a rounded tip.

  Jameth reaches for one.

  “What are those?”

  “Perimeter antennas.”

  I tuck them into the tools pack.

  Then I take the last thing…

  I lift BB. To them it looks like a glossy black sphere. Jameth stares like he can’t process it. Alexian looks like pure anger.

  A little smaller than a human head, its surface reflects the room’s light like it’s breathing.

  “Can you hold it?”

  Jameth nods and accepts it carefully.

  “If it drops, nothing happens. Relax.”

  He grins. “What is it?”

  “BlackBeetle. BB.”

  I unzip his pack under his chin.

  “I didn’t think it’d be this small.”

  He still lowers it in carefully, like it’s made of glass.

  Alexian stamps her foot.

  “Great. Yeah. Help him too, why don’t you.”

  Jam and I trade a look. He’s with me—like he said.

  “Alexian… please.”

  She shakes her head.

  “I swear, I don’t understand you at all.”

  I brush past her and head down again. I open Dad’s office and block the doorway with my body.

  “This time you can’t come in.”

  Jameth raises his eyebrows. “And why not?”

  “The second safe has a perimeter check on top of biometrics.”

  I set the bags beside the door. Jameth leans his torso past the threshold.

  “What?”

  “Please. Stay out. It’ll take seconds.”

  I close the door.

  I step to the second safe, clear two biometric checks, then launch the perimeter scan from my Personal.

  The room dims. A dozen red beams crawl out in all directions.

  APPROVED

  The safe opens.

  I disengage the triangular mount holding the customized Personal.

  I seal everything again and step out.

  I barely take one step before Jameth points.

  “What is that?”

  I slide the custom Personal into the backpack with the food without answering.

  A chill runs through me. My real Personal flashes red:

  ENCRYPTED CONNECTION

  “Move. It’s my dad.”

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  Why is he calling back?

  I make sure both of them are hidden behind the stairs and accept.

  “Are you still home?”

  “Finishing the backpacks.”

  He swallows. One hand on his cheek, fingers rubbing his temple—he’s barely holding it together.

  “Four hours. That’s all I have.”

  For a second I don’t understand—maybe I refuse to.

  Then it hits—and it hits me everywhere at once.

  “Only four hours?”

  Even nodding looks hard for him.

  “After that I’ll be removed from my post and…”

  A deep exhale.

  “I won’t be able to cover you anymore.”

  I scratch my neck. Heat rises from my stomach to my throat.

  My Personal chirps:

  STRESS LEVEL: 25%

  “Calm down. A BIMO inside the house right now is the last thing we need.”

  I close my eyes.

  Three deep breaths.

  My pulse eases.

  “Good. Like after swimming. Breathe. You have to stay clear. This is only the beginning. You’re going to face a long journey—worse difficulties than anything you’ve seen—and I need to know you can keep control when it gets ugly.”

  I stare at his hologram.

  “I love you, Dad.” My voice barely comes out.

  “I love you too, Isaac.”

  A small hitch in his breath, then:

  “I’m proud of you. And your mother and grandfather would be too. Now go.”

  CONNECTION TERMINATED

  I don’t even have time to wipe my tears before Alexian is standing in front of me—silent.

  She brushes my shoulder.

  “I don’t think a father risks his kids’ lives without a reason that’s more than good enough.”

  Jameth nods behind her.

  “If he’s doing it…” she adds, voice tight, “then he has his reasons—and I’m going to help you.”

  “Forget it.”

  “I’m in too,” Jameth cuts in.

  “No.”

  Alexian again, firmer:

  “We’re not asking for permission—”

  “You’re both stubborn as hell.”

  Alexian lifts her brows, flashing that perfect, impossible smile.

  “That’s why you love me.”

  That’s why I’m in love with you…

  “Guys, this isn’t a game. And there’s no going back. This is—like: Abandon all hope, you who enter.”

  Alexian and Jameth stare at me, confused.

  “It’s from—” Pointless. “Forget it.” Then, harder: “Actually—forget this whole situation.”

  But they answer in unison:

  “Okay. Tell us what to do.”

  I close my eyes.

  Why do I even bother?

  I walk to the wall under the stairs and press a precise spot at nose level. A hidden button gives under my finger and sinks into the panel. Ocular scan.

  Mechanism armed.

  A thin line splits the wall. The panel slides inward, revealing a narrow staircase.

  Alexian’s voice lands right on time:

  “You’ve got to be kidding…”

  Jameth doesn’t speak anymore at all.

  Ten spotlights snap on in sync with my steps, each one carving the next slice of the staircase out of the dark.

  “After this, you leave. Okay?”

  No answer, which is never a good sign.

  The basement lights up the moment I step off the last stair.

  Remnants of our past everywhere—metal shelving, a dented cabinet with heavy handles, and a large shape on the right under a dark tarp.

  “By the Rausen’s statue,” Alexian says. “The Moore family secrets never end.”

  It pulls a smile out of me, despite the tension.

  “What’s that?” Jameth points at the large spherical shape on the right, covered by a dark tarp—stretched over it like a dome, big enough to fit a person.

  “Leave it. Don’t touch anything.”

  I open a dented metal cabinet with chunky handles. No protection this time.

  “Then why did you bring us here?” Jameth asks—like he hasn’t already touched more things than he’s even recognized.

  “I’m with him,” Alexian says, doubling down. “At least tell us what all this is.”

  “Fine. Since you two refuse to let it go—these are memories,” I say, not hiding the irritation. I take a small red card and slide it into a clear sleeve I keep clenched in my hand.

  Alexian frowns. “Memories?”

  “From a vanished past. Jameth—back up.”

  “And what’s this?” he asks, lifting an old phone.

  Alexian squints at the writing.

  “Samsung?”

  I snatch it out of his hands just in time.

  “A relic. Don’t touch.”

  “It looks like an ancestor of the Personal,” Jameth laughs.

  I put it back.

  “Well. In a way, it is. These things tell us who we were. And what the world used to be.”

  Jameth still isn’t done rummaging.

  I pull out other tools I might need and split them between the two backpacks. Out of the corner of my eye, I see him by a frame.

  “Intel i386?”

  “An ancient processor. Gordon Moore—my ancestor—co-founded Intel. We have this tech today partly because of him.”

  Jameth’s about to say more, but I cut him off.

  “Jam, please. Stop. You’re wasting my time.”

  He spreads his hands in apology and backs off.

  I shut the cabinet—then a familiar rustle makes me whirl.

  Jameth has yanked the tarp off. It slips to the floor, exposing a carbon-fiber pod—sleek, spherical, and wrong in a room full of relics.

  I narrow my eyes. I knew he wouldn’t resist.

  When I look again, Jameth is frozen in front of the flight simulator.

  Alexian joins him, stopping near the hidden door in the wall—behind the simulator itself. They touch the carbon-fiber sphere, run their hands along the long seat at the center.

  Straps hang over it like a harness, waiting only for someone to buckle in.

  Jameth even picks up the VR helmet.

  “Wha—what…” he stammers.

  “Put the tarp back.”

  “You had this and never let me try it?”

  “I couldn’t.”

  “I was debating staying in Sector 3 or transferring to five just to use these—and you knew it!”

  “I promise you, once the mission’s over, it’s yours.”

  At least that might shut him up.

  “You’re just saying that so I’ll stop talking.”

  Caught…

  “No, Jam. Everything I kept from you was to protect you.”

  Alexian doesn’t speak, but her wet eyes do.

  I grab the tarp and cover the simulator again.

  “We have to go.”

  “What’s in your hand?” Jameth points at the red card in the clear sleeve.

  “Something important. Don’t ask me anything else, okay? Now—upstairs. Please.”

  I shove him forward, forcing Alexian to move with us.

  Back on the main floor, I seal the passage.

  They stop by the front door.

  “Most of what you saw today—Elis doesn’t know. Remember that, when you feel like I lied to you.”

  Alexian drops her gaze. Jameth scratches the back of his neck, quiet.

  “You sure you don’t need a hand?” he asks.

  In the middle of a long breath, lips pressed tight, I nod.

  Then I wake my Personal and run ocular recognition for the hidden options.

  My fingers shake.

  I tap the floating option: RESET NEWTON.

  You’re doing it. Really. Are you sure? You know there’s no coming back…

  I close my eyes for a beat. Then a bitter smile cuts across my face.

  I press CONFIRM.

  I open the front door with the usual Personal command.

  “Yeah, Jam. You two need to stay—”

  “Moore! I’m still waiting on the homework!”

  I squeeze my eyes shut, teeth clenched—somewhere between irritation and exhaustion.

  “Klimb—by the Rausen’s statue—you’re the last thing I needed.”